The present invention relates in general to sport fishing chairs (fighting chairs) and, in particular, to fishing chairs with a sliding insert.
When fishing for large game fish such as blue marlin, black marlin, bluefin tuna and the like, it is customary for the fisherman to sit in a so-called fishing chair mounted on the aft deck of a power boat. The conventional fishing chair has an upstanding back rest and a seat both of which are mounted to pivot about an upright axis on a pedestal mounted to the boat deck. A foot rest extends outwardly from the seat portion of the chair to enable the fisherman to brace himself while landing a fish. A rod holder is mounted to the front of the chair for receiving the butt end of a fishing rod between the fisherman's legs. The rod holder is designed to pivot about a horizontal axis so that the fisherman may work the rod and reel back and forth while reeling in a fish.
Customarily, the fisherman sits in a bucket-type harness which is attached to the reel, and he usually uses his left hand to pump the rod. A lubricant such as a soap solution is squirted on the chair seat to enable the fisherman and his bucket-type harness to slide on the fishing chair; however, this is unsatisfactory for the following reasons: (1) It requires the aid of an assistant to supply lubricant; (2) It creates an unsafe condition if lubricant works off the edge of the seat and spills onto the deck; (3) Due to variation in the amount of friction between the bucket harness and the seat, a smooth back and forth motion is often lost; and (4) The bucket-type harness often works off the buttocks of the fisherman and moves up his back.
Landing one of the aforementioned game fish species is a strenuous and time-consuming endeavor. Depending upon the size of the fish, it is not uncommon for even a muscular fisherman to spend 4 to 8 hours in landing the fish. Customarily, the fisherman employs his arms, shoulders and back muscles to pivot the rod rearwardly into an upright position, and while lowering the rod, he reels rapidly to maintain tension on the line while simultaneously shortening it. This procedure is effective; however, it has a tendency to overstress certain of the body muscles and to induce fatigue. The typical fighting chair, when used with a bucket harness, does not allow for a cushion seat and therefore often causes early fatigue, muscle cramps and buttocks and leg sleep and/or numbness. A fishing chair which enables a fisherman to shorten the time required to land a game fish and/or to land a game fish with less muscle strain is highly desirable.
An auxiliary seat assembly for a sport fishing chair is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,676 issued on May 2, 1978 to Arruza, which patent is hereby expressly incorporated by reference. The Arruza patent is an improvement over using a soap solution as a lubricant between the seat harness and the seat of the fishing chair. However, there are several disadvantages to using the auxiliary seat assembly of Arruza.
First, Arruza shows the auxiliary seat assembly attached to the fishing chair using screws or bolts. The use of screws or bolts is undesirable because the holes in the fishing chair ruin the appearance of the fishing chair when the auxiliary seat assembly is removed. A fishing chair may cost $8,000 to $10,000 and is in the class of a piece of fine furniture. It is very undesirable to ruin such an expensive item by boring holes in it. Additionally, the holes allow fresh and salt water to penetrate into the interior of the fishing chair wood, thereby causing deterioration of the chair.
Second, the Arruza device is made of wood, which is easily damaged by the marine environment of hot and cold temperatures and fresh and salt water. As the wood deteriorates, it becomes structurally inferior and can cause the sliding motion of the auxiliary seat assembly to bind or lock up completely.
Third, the sliding system of Arruza includes rails made of metal and guide elements made of nylon. Because the rail and guide materials are different, with different coefficients of thermal expansion, the extremes of heat and cold encountered in the marine environment can cause the rail and guide system to bind or lock up.
Fourth, the device of Arruza lacks an automatic return mechanism to return the top portion of the seat assembly to a retracted position from an extended position. When the seat assembly of Arruza is extended and the fisherman is pulled upward off the seat by a large fish, the seat assembly remains in the extended position. Often when the fisherman is pulling backward on the fish, the fisherman will fall back rather quickly to his starting position onto the seat assembly rather than sliding back with his full body weight on the chair. This is due to the weight and pull of the fish acting thru the counter leverage of the rod assembly holding the fisherman's weight up off the seat while the fisherman is moving in the backward position. In the Arruza device, if the fisherman has not manually returned the top portion to the retracted position, the fisherman will land with his buttocks on the exposed guide and rail system. The fisherman at a minimum will experience discomfort, and may injure himself, especially after repeated episodes.
Fifth, the top surface of the top portion of the Arruza device is simply a flat wood surface. As discussed above, eight hours or more may elapse before a fish is landed. Sitting on a hard wood surface for such a long period of time is at best uncomfortable and possibly intolerable. The plain wood surface is particularly undesirable if the fish is strong enough to raise the fisherman from the seat so that when the fisherman pulls back on the fish he or she returns to the seat almost in a free-fall style, as previously discussed. These quick transitions from standing to sitting are jarring to the body when the seat surface is hard, such as wood.